BBQ with Aunt Chris and cousin Kelly

The same weekend as Marcus' party, there was a memorial fundraiser in honor of Marcus' Uncle Pat who died the previous fall of liver cancer.  His wife, Aunt Chris, flew out from Louisville, along with one of her sons, Kelly, from California.

We didn't go to the fundraiser in Vernonia (Pat's boyhood town) but we did have a get-together at grammae & papa's side of the Randall home:

It was nice to use the new patio on grammae & papa's side!

(yes, that is a nasty bruise on her forehead) :oP

Aunt Chris in pink, cousin Kelly in the white shirt, Uncle
Jeff (Steve and Pat's brother) in the navy shirt

Gemma LOVES cute boys!!!  (even if they are
related to her!)  ;o)

Kelly with all his Curl cousins.  :o)

Marcus' surprise 40th birthday party

Right after picking up the kids from Camp Howard…Marcus had a surprise 40th birthday party!!!

Well, the PARTY was a surprise…turning 40 was no surprise.  ;o)

It was a beautiful evening.  Guests came to the house while
Marcus and I were gone in Portland, picking up the kids.

Because I was not there to get dinner ready, Papa manned the
grill.  I had bought pre-made sides from New Seasons, which
the guests set out.  Desserts were from Decadent Creations, via
Lisa (it was a thank-you for watching her kids!).

Fr. Juan was in charge of decorations.  :o)  I gave him free
rein from our party supplies bin!  And he supplied lots of
balloons.  :o)

Old Man

Lots of fun, lots of presents, and lots of love for Marcus.
<3

I've been busy!! (parish campout post)

We've been so busy here!  (Of course…we are always busy.)

This fall we took a couple of trips, and that always throws me off.  I have been totally dedicated to schooling so any "free" time goes to that.  Then in the evenings, there's laundry, cleaning, prepping, and general "work" that didn't get done during the day.  So…no time for blogging.

Luckily Bunny has done some blogging recently.  I'll use HER posts for some of our recent events, so I can skip over them.  Documenting most of our happenings is still very important to me so I will try to cover most of what we've done in the past few months.  My kids and I look back at all our posts fondly, so I hate to skip over a whole quarter!

TOMATO HARVEST FROM OUR GARDEN

PARISH CAMPOUT -- DAY 1

PARISH CAMPOUT -- DAY 2

PARISH CAMPOUT -- DAY 3

PARISH CAMPOUT -- DAY 4

TIE-DYE SHIRTS FROM THE CAMPOUT

I am so glad that Bunny is such a good blogger!!!

Three campers this year

This summer we had THREE kids go to Camp Howard!  (We tried to make it four but they wouldn't take Gemma…I wonder why….)

at the drop off

They each had one backpack full of clothes, and one duffel
bag full of their bedding and towels.

Daddy was giving helpful advice up 'til the end.

 That was a Sunday.  On the following Friday evening, Marcus and I drove to pick them up:

A little smelly and tired… but very happy from a fun week
at camp!

helping friends

At the end of July my friend Lisa had her 4th child--who was a little early and a little "little."  Baby Clare had to stay in the hospital for a few weeks, so Marcus and I watched Lisa and Michael's 3 older children for about a week.  We had a blast!  I won't lie…it wasn't "easy"…but it was fun and rewarding and I would do it again in a heartbeat.  Hopefully under better circumstances, though!

Mrs. N is their grandmother, and she helped
A LOT while William, Thomas, and Katherine
stayed with us.

full van (9 kids)

We took the oldest 3 to camp, so we were down
to "just" 6 kids again.

We got to visit Lisa and Clare in the hospital!

We even attempted a movie…with 6 kids, 7 and under.

I did Burgerville by myself one evening.

lots of puzzles that week

so tired

Fun at the Washington County Fair

Our Washington County Fair is a free fair that lasts 4 days at the end of July.  Well, parking isn't free unless you can snag one of the street-parking spots…which I did, score!  

This year we went on a Thursday morning.  It was HOT!!!!!  There had been high temps all summer, and this weekend was no different.  By going in the morning, we were spared from SOME of the heat.  It probably was in the low 90s by the time we left around noon.

First stop: poultry and small animals.  We found
out later that a half-dozen animals died from the
heat.  :o(

I think they are saying "moo" in this picture.

cooling station

learning about mosquitoes…just like mommy
did in the good ol' days at ND

I like the crafts entries and the garden the best.  We skipped the crafts because we were tired and cranky (ok, just I was) but we did make a quick stop at the garden so I could sit and nurse Celeste.  All the volunteers said "Oh, your kids should do the scavenger hunt!" but I was too tired and cranky and I said, "No!"  Then I was just too tired to move, so I let them do it (I was probably still cranky too, but just the tiredness was showing at that point).  Their prize: a freshly-dug carrot each: